Former Afghan Special Forces Soldier Who Helped US Military Dies Within 24 Hours of ICE Arrest in Texas

A man who spent a decade fighting America's war in Afghanistan died in American immigration custody last weekend, and his family still does not know why.

Mohammad Nazeer Paktyawal, who had worked with US Army Special Forces in the south-eastern Afghan province of Paktika since 2005, was arrested on the morning of 13 March 2026 in Richardson, Texas, by eight masked federal agents who approached him in his car outside his apartment block.

His wife and six children, the youngest of whom is 18 months old, watched as he was taken away. By 09:10 the following morning, he was dead. ICE confirmed his death in a press release published on 15 March, saying the case was under active investigation.

Paktyawal's death is at least the 12th in ICE custody so far in 2026, a figure confirmed by Newsweek's analysis of the agency's own detainee death notifications. It comes as detention numbers have reached historically high levels under President Donald Trump's mass deportation campaign.

Arrested Outside His Children's School, Dead Before the Next Morning

According to AfghanEvac, a US veteran-led non-profit that advocates for Afghan allies, Paktyawal was preparing to drive his children to school at approximately 07:00 on Friday 13 March when agents in unmarked vehicles surrounded him. He was taken to the ICE Dallas Field Office and placed in a processing hold room. Later that evening, he contacted family members from detention to say he was unwell.

ICE's own press release states that, 'in the late evening of March 13, ICE contacted Emergency Medical Services when Paktiawal began complaining of shortness of breath and chest pains.' He was transported to Parkland Hospital in Dallas and kept overnight for observation on the emergency doctor's recommendation. The following morning, 14 March, hospital staff reportedly noticed that his tongue had swollen while he was eating breakfast, prompting an emergency medical response. He was pronounced dead at 09:10.

A preliminary report from the Dallas County Medical Examiner did not list a cause or manner of death at the time of publication. No cause of death had been officially confirmed as of 16 March 2026. ICE said Paktyawal had not reported any prior medical history at the time of his arrest and processing.

The family released a statement through AfghanEvac: 'Right now our family is trying to comfort six children who have lost their father. We are heartbroken and trying to process this loss. His children watched as he was surrounded and taken away. That moment will stay with them forever.' One of Paktyawal's six children holds United States citizenship, according to Newsweek.

A Decade Fighting for the US Military — Then Evacuated, Then Detained

Paktyawal began working with US Army Special Forces in 2005 in Paktika province, a Taliban stronghold in south-eastern Afghanistan that was among the most contested territories of the two-decade war. AfghanEvac president Shawn VanDiver, a US Navy veteran who founded the organisation after the fall of Kabul, described Paktyawal as having served alongside American forces for more than ten years.

'This man fought our war for 10 years,' VanDiver said. 'He had six kids, one of whom is an American citizen. He was brought here by the United States of America. He's been working hard in Texas, paying taxes. He was doing everything right.'

Paktyawal and his family were evacuated from Afghanistan through the US government's Operation Allies Welcome initiative on 21 August 2021, arriving at Washington Dulles International Airport, according to ICE's own press release. He was paroled into the United States by an immigration officer, a legal status granted specifically to allow eligible Afghans to enter the country while their immigration cases were processed. More than 70,000 Afghans entered the US under that initiative, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

ICE's press release characterised Paktyawal as a 'criminal illegal alien,' citing two prior arrests: for alleged SNAP benefit fraud on 16 September 2025, described as a felony, and for alleged theft on 1 November 2025. The Texas Tribune reported that ICE and DHS did not state whether he had been convicted of either charge. AfghanEvac stated that neither arrest had resulted in a criminal conviction. The agency has not provided further detail on the underlying legal proceedings.

ICE Custody Deaths Are Rising — and Texas Has the Highest Concentration

Paktyawal's death is the seventh in ICE custody in Texas since December 2025 alone, according to the Texas Tribune. Nationally, it is at least the 12th ICE in-custody death of 2026, surpassing the 11 recorded in the whole of 2024. In 2025, 31 people died in ICE detention, a figure ICE's own records confirm represents a two-decade high.

The sharp rise tracks directly with the expansion of ICE detention. According to data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University, ICE held 68,289 people in detention on 7 February 2026, nearly double the 37,782 recorded in January 2024 and more than double the 32,743 recorded in August 2023. The administration has publicly stated a target of 100,000 daily detention beds as part of its mass deportation agenda.

The Trump administration has moved separately to terminate the Temporary Protected Status previously granted to some 14,600 Afghans for humanitarian reasons, opening them to deportation proceedings. The State Department has not issued formal guidance on the obligations of the US government towards Afghans who directly assisted American military operations — a group that includes Special Immigrant Visa holders and allied forces personnel such as Paktyawal.

The United States recruited Mohammad Nazeer Paktyawal to fight its longest war, evacuated him when that war ended, and now, by its own account, holds responsibility for investigating how he came to die in its custody less than a day after being taken from his children.